Jun 12, 2012

Singapore - Keep that online profile professional

Almost seven in 10 Singapore professionals
feel it is important to maintain their professional image online.

Network
development director Camellia Tan believes in keeping her professional and
personal lives separate.

This is
especially so because the 33-year-old, who works in an advertising firm, uses
social- networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, which potential
employers might peruse.

"To
be honest, LinkedIn is more like an online curriculum vitae. Many headhunters
are increasingly using it to recruit staff," said Ms Tan, who has spent 11
years in the industry.

Almost
seven in 10 Singapore professionals feel it is important to maintain their
professional image online, according to a recent survey by Robert Walters, an
international recruitment consultancy.

The
survey, called the Global Web Poll, was conducted online last month on 35,280
respondents across 19 countries, including the United States, Japan,
Switzerland and Australia.

Respondents
were asked one question: How important do you consider maintaining a
professional online presence on personal social-networking websites is, in the
event prospective employers check on them?

Of the
2,390 Singaporeans polled, 69 per cent of them rated this as "very
important" or "important". This was similar to that of the
international average. The survey also showed that 510 Singaporeans, or 21 per
cent of respondents, answered "unimportant" or "very
unimportant". A further 230 respondents, or 10 per cent, said it was not
something they think about

But
Singaporean employers hardly ask for online background checks to be done when
hiring, said Mr Josh Goh, assistant director for corporate services at The GMP
Group, a human-resource consultancy.

"Those
who do it would usually verify the sources as well," he added.

Mr Goh
told my paper that employers who do background checks are usually objective.
They mostly check professional websites like LinkedIn, and will steer clear of
more personal websites, such as Facebook.

Employers
will not judge job seekers based on their personal lives, said Mr Goh.

But a
Facebook profile can reveal a lot more than what someone does in their free
time.

In
February, Northern Illinois University in the United States assessed the
profiles of 56 students with jobs and rated their work ethics.

Six
months later, a strong correlation was discovered between the ratings and their
employer evaluations.

Facebook
seemed to be a good gauge for reliability, the study found.

For
instance, photos posted, such as those taken at parties, were found to
demonstrate extroversion - a desired quality. But Mr Goh still cautioned
against the blurring of one's personal and professional identities.
"Employees should keep their social-media profiles as private as possible.
At the end of the day, they really won't know if they will affect their social
standing and work image," said Mr Goh.

The
executive director of the Singapore Human Resources Institute, Mr David Ang,
shares his sentiments.

"Cultural
norms do play a role in the Singapore context," he said. "There are
times when you may post pictures online and you could be in a very compromising
position or pose. You have to be careful."

Ethan
Lou,

my
paper

AsiaOne

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